


change you like a remix

by madeon



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M, everything is about louis, everything is always about louis with me, the caroline/harry is mostly a plot device
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-28
Updated: 2013-03-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 18:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/738996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madeon/pseuds/madeon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>when harry is seventeen, he falls in love for the first time. (an au where when you fall in love, you wear their heart on your shoulder)</p>
            </blockquote>





	change you like a remix

**Author's Note:**

> erin told me i should write this instead of taking notes in lecture today  
> sidenote: when you fall in love, the person you love can see your heart  
> title from fall out boy's the phoenix

When Harry is seventeen, he falls in love for the first time. Caroline walks into the little coffeeshop where he's working as a barista, and he has to stop his hand from shaking when he passes her order across the counter (tall chai latte, skim milk and cinnamon). She comes back two days later and politely asks for two tall lattes, a caramel frap "and your number, if you don't mind" and Harry doesn't really mind at all.

He sees her heart for the first time two weeks later on their fifth date, as they're walking into the cinema to see the new James Bond. Caroline trails off in the middle of a sentence and he knows she's seen his heart as well when her fingers brush against his collarbone and he smiles down at her, eyes wide as he reaches to touch her heart as well. They're standing in the lobby just smiling at each other and Harry doesn't think he's ever been happier, even when he remembers that they've missed the previews and quite possibly the beginning of the movie as well. _This is it_ , he thinks. _This is it for me_.

\-----

Three months later and Harry is storming out of Caroline's flat, heart racing and tears on his cheeks. _There's someone else_ , she had said, and then he couldn't see her heart anymore. He goes straight to the tattoo place his flatmate had told him about (they don't check ID and the guy's good, Zayn had said) and covers the space her heart had been with another heart, dark ink filling in the scar she had left behind.

After that, Harry doesn't stop. His heart shoulder slowly fills with tattoos and even though he tells himself every time it's just because he likes the way they stand out against his skin, a little part of him knows he's just trying to hide the space where anyone else's heart would go. He curls in on himself, shoulders curved forward and back bent over to hide his heart, head tipped down and toes tucked in so he can take up less space and avoid attention.

Harry doesn't mind being alone, because it's safe and it doesn't hurt and he's not exactly happy but he's also not sad, and then Louis falls into his life.

\-----

He's just standing at the counter waiting for his shift to end when a boy literally falls through the doors of the coffeeshop, laughing loudly at something his friend had just said ("Shut up, Louis, it wasn't that funny!") and dripping all over the floor from the pouring rain outside. "Hello," he calls across the shop to Harry. "Could I get two large hot chocolates and also maybe a date with the cute boy making them?"

Harry's already turned to start heating the milk but feels his shoulders tense all the same. "I don't really date," he replies, mixing the chocolate powder in as quickly as he can without burning himself and popping lids onto the travel cups. When he turns to pass the drinks across the counter, the boy ( _Louis_ , he thinks, and then tells himself it doesn't matter) is grinning at him.

"And why not? A gorgeous boy like you, there's got to be loads of boys and girls chasing after you." He clearly means it as a compliment but Harry can already feel his lip beginning to shake dangerously.

"Not really. They're on the house, have a nice day," he says before attempting a smile and heading into the small kitchen, closing the door behind him and sliding down to the floor. He stays there until his chest stops aching and Louis is long gone.

\-----

But Louis is back the next day, quiet and apologetic. "I wanted to say sorry for yesterday," he begins, and Harry doesn't miss the way his eyes scan his heart shoulder. "It really was out of line and I shouldn't have asked."

Harry tries to smile back at him, but Louis just shakes his head. "That's not a real smile, Harry! We've got to get you laughing at something." He pauses for a second before continuing. "Also, I know your name off the nametag. I didn't, like, stalk you or anything weird." Harry lets out a little giggle at that and Louis' face just lights up, grinning back at him. "Much better!"

He starts to walk backwards towards the door, promising Harry that he'll be back tomorrow with something else to make him laugh. Harry just waves, thinking Louis won't really be back now that he's apologized.

\-----

Louis is back every day after that.

He brings his friend from the first day (who's called Niall) after watching how Harry has to hide a smile behind his hand when Zayn blushes and stutters his way through making Niall's order one day.

After three months of laughing and teasing Zayn and occasionally cuddling when Louis throws himself across the counter and Harry has to catch him, Louis stops dead in the middle of a sentence. "Cat got your tongue, Lou?" Harry teases, a little surprised because he's never seen anything that could shut Louis up so quickly. When Louis glances up at his face before staring back down at his collarbone, Harry can feel his body go cold. He can only watch as Louis slowly reaches out, fingers stretching to trace the outline of where his heart is, and then he closes his eyes and steps back. "You need to leave."

Louis jolts back at that, hand dropping to his side. "What?"

"You need to leave," Harry repeats, moving to hold the door open. When Louis is still frozen after a few seconds and all Harry's done is let cold air into the shop, he lets the door close and goes to the back room to pick up his jumper and bag before leaving the shop himself. Louis follows him, grabbing his wrist to try and slow him down. "Harry-"

"No," he snaps. "I'm not- I can't, Louis, not again. So just please leave me alone, I'm not in love with anyone and certainly not you." He's aiming to hurt Louis,  to try and force him away, but Louis is just staring at him and not letting go. When Harry tries to pull his arm away, Louis only holds tighter.

"So what about me, Harry?" he says quietly, voice almost lost in the noise from the street. "What about me? You walk around all curled in on yourself like you're trying to hide your heart from the world when all you're doing is making yourself miserable because you can't remember how to be happy, and you're so _goddamn blind_ -" and then he's throwing himself forward and Harry catches him like he always does and Louis is kissing him.

When he pulls back, eyes wide and lips swollen, Harry's eyes catch on the skin under his collarbone, where he can see the faint outline of a heart through Louis' shirt. A finger slides under his chin, tipping it up so he can see Louis staring back at him. "Will you let me try and make you happy?"

\-----

When Harry first realizes it later that night after they've talked for hours, his heart falls to his stomach (and of course Louis sees it). "Harry?" he whispers, tracing its outline with his fingers. "What's wrong?"

Harry just shakes his head and curls more tightly around Louis. "It's just-" and Louis waits for him, like he always does. "You know I had kind of given up after Caroline, so I have tattoos all over my heart arm." Louis frowns, like he doesn't really get what Harry's going for, but stays quiet and waits for Harry to finish. "I covered my shoulder so I've nowhere to put your heart."

Louis is only quiet for a second before he beams up at Harry, looking like he's about to start laughing. "So? Put it on your other shoulder." Harry frowns at him, leading Louis to poke at where his dimples would be and smooth out the line between his eyebrows before replying.

"Louis, that's not really normal. You know everyone uses their left arm."

All he gets is a bright laugh and a hug. "Since when is anything we do normal?"


End file.
